What Is Your Enneagram of Personality Song?
Learn more about the enneagram of personality test, discover your number, and find the song written to honor your personality type in the Atlas: Year Two project by Sleeping At Last.
First off… WOW. I had so much fun with this and I learned so much that I couldn’t wait to pass it on to all of you!
During a shufflemancy session, I was introduced to an inspiring music project.
There was so much painstaking detail that went into this as an art piece - I was absolutely floored and so incredibly moved by these tracks and what went into their creation - and so grateful to my guides for putting this project in front of me for me to experience and to share with all of you.
So, let me explain….
The Atlas: Year Two project, from Sleeping At Last, emerges at the nexus point of psychology and music, exploring what it means to be human with all of our profound strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears, in such an incredibly beautiful, poignant way that I felt compelled to create this post in a way that, I hope, will honor the depth that went into the crafting of the project.
Getting to know the processes behind the ways each of these songs were crafted felt like witnessing the genesis of a ritual that would not only inspire people to look within and understand themselves better but also each other.
And I thought sharing this with all of you would be a great way to inspire connection, a great way for friends and family to get to know each other’s thoughts, emotions, loves, hopes, dreams, and fears more deeply, to be able to listen to each other’s songs and and find a greater depth of understanding for each other through the empathy of shared emotional experience.
Doing this yourselves and sharing the experience with your friends and family is like performing a rite of empathy and connection, something so needed in the world we currently inhabit.
So, here’s how this works:
I will give you a bit of background on the enneagram first so you’ll be able to fully appreciate this art project for what it is.
I’ll show you where to go to take the test to get your primary enneagram number.
From there, I will show you how to figure out what your secondary number - your “wing” - would be.
Once you know which primary and secondary types you are, you can come back here to this page and discover the songs that were crafted for your types - and even listen to the podcasts about the making of those particular tracks. You won’t want to skip that part - there is so much love in the detail that went into the process of making these.
The most important part:
To get the full experience of this, please send this to your friends and family and listen to each other’s songs.
This is where the real benefit is: When we deeply understand each other’s hearts, we can show up in ways that best support each other.
This is how we start with ourselves to make a better world.
What is the Enneagram?
The enneagram of personality is a system for seeing the motivation behind human behavior. It began as an ancient tool dating back to the 4th century AD. Philosopher Evagrius Ponticus developed a method to describe eight deadly thoughts and eight remedies to these eight deadly thoughts. In its modern incarnation, the enneagram system describes nine personality types which have both weaknesses and strengths attributed to them.
The modern incarnation of the enneagram of personality is mainly credited to Oscar Ichaz, a Bolivian philosopher who began teaching self-development programs in the 1950s which focused on mapping out personality traits as a tool for success.
Using the enneagram personality assessment to map out our personalities can help us to identify and predict our core values, motivations, and desires so that we may better understand how these tendencies often inform our actions and reactions. This can help make sense of our emotions so that we can develop a better handle on any struggles we might be facing.
What are the nine personality types of the enneagram?
Type 1: The Reformer
Strong sense of ethics, strong sense of purpose in life, motivated to improve themselves, strive for perfection, motivated by strength in their ideals, uplifted by motivating others and inspiring change, motivation for moral superiority, can be judgmental of others, may develop a general dislike for society, potential for martyrdom, can be prone to narcissism.
Type 2: The Helper
Empathetic, intuitive, hyper aware of the feelings of others, people pleasers, motivated by feeling wanted and needed, often sacrifice their own needs for the sake of pleasing others, prone to possessiveness and smothering, can become over-involved in other people’s lives, can lead to feelings of emptiness or worthlessness within their own lives.
Type 3: The Achiever
Ambitious and motivated to succeed in life, confident, self-assured, at risk for becoming selfish and overly involved in their own self-image, potential for a tendency to favor activities that get attention and praise from others, can still feel worthless if they excel at something but nobody recognizes their accomplishments, may not reciprocate the same attention and praise they crave from others due to their self-focused nature.
Type 4: The Individualist
Different to the core, introspective, honest, expressive, may be shy or outspoken, may not feel the need to participate in the conversation, may feel they do not belong in the world around them, do not actually want or need isolation, may have difficulty articulating internal feelings, may feel deep loneliness.
Type 5: The Investigator
Insightful outlook on the world, often look at situations from a deep analytical point of view to seek a high level of knowledge, focused, dedicated, become quick experts in their fields of study, can at times feel isolated from those around them, can become deep in thought, often remove themselves from situations as if they are not participants but observers, typically dedicated and committed to their fields of study, can become defensive of their knowledge, may feel personally threatened by ideas which challenge their ideologies.
Type 6: The Loyalist
Like to make things work, firm in their loyalty, troubleshooters, can anticipate problems, encourage group cohesiveness, tend to doubt their own judgement, seek validation from others, deeply aware of their internal anxieties, tend to build strong support networks with those around them, use the security of their social support networks as reassurance against internal doubts, often fear abandonment or loss of support from others, often feel they do not possess the tools on their own to overcome life’s challenges, can be vulnerable to lack of self confidence and loss of their own identity and beliefs.
Type 7: The Enthusiast
Many interests and talents, extroverted, excitable, like to meet new people and try new things, excellent brainstormers, thrive in situations where they are able to take on many tasks at once, able to quickly pick up and learn new skills, can face difficulties with overextending themselves, impatience, impulsiveness, often easily distracted, prone to exhaustion and burnout, experience boredom easily, may struggle with completing long-term commitments like college degree programs, struggle with choosing one thing to pursue.
Type 8: The Challenger
Straight to the point, confident, assertive, self-reliant, strive to do important things, focus their time on meaningful tasks, tend to challenge the status quo, independent thinkers, thrive in autonomous roles, don’t like to waste time, can become restless or stuck if they feel a task is not useful, dislike controlling situations, can get irritated if someone tells them how to do their job, headstrong, can lead to them an unwillingness to accept input from others or differing points of view, factual, prone to struggling with the emotional side of things.
Type 9: The Peacemaker
Trustworthy, accepting of all people, see the good in all people, find the silver lining in every situation, want to minimize problems over solving them, choose battles wisely, deeply optimistic, respectful, open to new friendships and ideals, tendency to see goodness, may have a distorted view of the world, minimizing problems can manifest negatively as ignoring problems, may accept problematic situations as normal, can become very pessimistic as if nothing can help to remedy the problem.
Where do I go to take the test?
This one is free and will give you your primary enneagram type.
Ok, I know my primary number now…. So, what are the secondary numbers?
Enneagram wings are important extensions of your core enneagram type. They provide more detail about your own unique, colorful personality. Enneagram types are influenced by their adjacent types.
How do I figure out my secondary number?
Let’s use me as an example.
I’m a five.
So, if I look at the descriptions for the numbers adjacent to me, four and six, I can figure out which of these descriptions resonates with me more.
The notation for this would be 5w4, the Iconoclast, or 5w6, the Problem Solver, depending upon which I choose.
And honestly, whether I choose 4 or 6 might vary with how I happen to be feeling that day.
But in my case, I lean toward 4 a bit more often than 6, so that would be 5w4, the Iconoclast. (Go figure… I’m an autodidact who writes to encourage the empowerment of other autodidacts…. That’s amusing.)
What are the descriptions of the 18 enneagram types with wings?
1w9 (The Idealist): Perfectionist who is practical and meticulous. Has a knack for catching the inconsistencies in the reasoning and judgment of others.
1w2 (The Advocate): Activists and advocates. Socially aware. Concerned with upholding high safety standards for others. Often works behind the scenes.
2w1 (The Servant): Empathetic. Caring. Find fulfillment in supporting the happiness and well-being of others.
2w3 (The Host/Hostess): Organizers. Outgoing. Productive. Thrive on connecting people. Love being part of a group.
3w2 (The Charmer): Go-getters. Socially savvy. Popular. Enjoy meeting new people. Love networking events.
3w4 (The Professional): The quintessential boss. Driven. Organized. Always on the go with new business ideas and projects. Finds great joy in efficiency and rewards.
4w3 (The Aristocrat): Artist. Charismatic. Individualistic. Expresses a sense of wonder about the underlying beauty in nature. Sees the beauty in the full spectrum of human emotions.
4w5 (The Bohemian): Artistic creator. Intense. Mission-focused. Uses self-expression to explore the human condition.
5w4 (The Iconoclast): Lone wolf. Idiosyncratic. Autodidactic. Deeply values autonomy. Loves learning and research. Seeks to master many subjects.
5w6 (The Problem Solver): Researcher. Detached. Curious. Gains energy from digging into fascinating topics. Likes to work under the radar.
6w5 (The Defender): Team workers. Resourceful. Dutiful. Highly values security and knowledge. Often has a great sense of humor.
6w7 (The Buddy): Optimistic. Fun-loving. Dedicated explorers of life with a need for safety and comfort that can sometimes feel contradictory.
7w6 (The Entertainer): Happy-go-lucky. Humorous. Experience junkie. Always on the search for new projects to undertake.
7w8 (The Realist): Entrepreneur. Creative. Innovative. Enjoys experimenting and creating with new mediums and ideas.
8w7 (The Maverick): Self-starter. Headstrong. Confident. Works hard and plays hard. Fearless attitude.
8w9 (The Bear): Servant leader. Keeps others’ best interests in mind. Likes to preserve harmony. Gently encourages people to take action.
9w8 (The Referree): Vagabond. Independent. Calm. On a mission to discover what makes society a kinder and more accepting place.
9w1 (The Dreamer): Collected. Pragmatic. Values cooperation and justice. Loves the feeling of being connected to others in their community.
How do I find my songs?
So, going back to the example from above, given my type is 5w4, my songs below would be FIVE and FOUR.
However, part of the magic of this, as you’ll discover, is that we have all thought and felt in the ways described in each of these songs. We have all, from time to time, embodied each of these archetypes.
So, when you listen to your loved ones’ songs, you’ll find that a sense of profound connection grows out of the empathy you feel when you have the opportunity to understand their resonant energy at this deep level.
Listening to the songs of their hearts has a way of cracking open yours.
And I am grateful to my guides for showing me Ryan O’Neal’s work and grateful to O’Neal for putting forward a project so profoundly impactful and resonant so that we could all share this deeply moving experience.
So, let’s talk about the songs….
Chicago-based singer-songwriter Ryan O’Neal uses Sleeping At Last as his musical moniker.
Under this name, he created a project called Atlas.
According to O’Neal, “Atlas is an ongoing series of music based on the origins of the universe and life within it.”
In different years, he explores different themes.
During Atlas: Year One, O’Neal wrote 30 songs inspired by the origins of the universe which explored the themes of darkness, light, space, land and oceans.
In the next year, O’Neal released Atlas: Year Two, which explored involuntary human development with themes including life, senses, emotions, and intelligence.
It’s within Atlas: Year Two where we find nine tracks exploring the enneagram of personality.
Each song, simply named One through Nine, was painstakingly crafted to convey the essence of its corresponding personality type through music.
For each personality type, I will link to the song that was written for it and I will link to the podcast episode describing in depth what went into the making of that track so you can hear, in O’Neal’s own words, what his process was like.
I highly recommend this - the thoughtful attention to detail that went into this work is inspiring.
And, in case you’re wondering… O’Neal is a 9.
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
Podcast About the Making of Five
SIX
Podcast About the Making of Six
SEVEN
Podcast About the Making of Seven
EIGHT
Podcast About the Making of Eight
NINE
Gorgeous music!!! Goosebumps and inspiration served up on a frequency platter. ✨❤️✨